Benjamin isn’t all doom and gloom you know. It’s beautiful in fall. Fall’s the best season. That’s not an opinion that’s a fact. The oranges and golds and especially the reds of the leaves are intoxicating. Walking through town is like walking through a painting.

  It hadn’t been my choice to walk home from school. I’d missed the bus. I reminded myself with every step that there was only a month and a half left until I got my license. Then I’d never have to worry about the bus again.

  I made a quick stop by a little bakery and bought a cheese Danish to munch on as I made my way slowly, slowly through town. All the shops had little Halloween decorations in their windows. I counted fourteen little bats and about thirty jack-o-lanterns. I felt sorry when I got out of downtown.

  When I turned into my neighborhood, I got that feeling again. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled. I looked over my shoulder, but the road was empty. My stomach turned over and I crumpled up the wax paper the Danish had come in and stuffed it in my hoodie pocket. I tried to focus on the views again, but it felt like everything had been tainted by the ominous feeling.

  The more I walked the more my heart began to race. My quick steps turned into a soft jog which turned into an all-out sprint. My backpack bounced against me as I ran past my neighbors’ yards. Their Halloween displays leered at me, not helping to ease my anxiety.

  I leapt up the stairs of my front porch and began fiddling with my house key. Another glance over my shoulder revealed that no one was watching me, but that’s not how it felt. I yanked the door open and nearly fell into my house.

  I was panting loud enough that my mother probably should’ve noticed but she was occupied in the kitchen and didn’t even look up. I frowned at her turned back for a moment, before going up the stairs to my room, hopping over the squeaky step.

  Mocha, my little brown cat, greeted me at the door to my room, brushing up against my legs and purring affectionately. I bent down and scratched behind his ears.

  “At least someone’s happy to see me.”

  Mocha meowed and then jumped onto my bed, where he spent most of his days. Cats have it so easy.

  I rose up again and pressed a hand to my heart, which still hadn’t gotten back to its normal rhythm. God, I was such an idiot. Obviously, no one was out to get me. I cringed at the thought that I’d really just ran home like a fool. Hopefully none of my neighbors had seen that.

  My room is mostly barren and boring. I have a desk tucked away in the corner and a small-ish bookshelf next to it. My bookshelf is nearly full even though I wouldn’t really consider myself a reader. On Christmases and my birthdays over the years, I usually end up getting lots of books from my relatives. I figure they think since I’m quiet I must be some sort of bookworm.

  I walked over to my desk, which was a graveyard for empty water bottles, broken pencils, past assignments, and all the books that wouldn’t fit on my shelf. Sometimes, I wondered if the old thing would collapse under all the weight, but I didn’t really care enough to actually clean it. I set my backpack down beside it, thinking that I’d do my homework later.

  The only thing in my room that I do keep spotless is the canvas and easel propped up in the corner of the room. And that’s not exactly intentional. I used to consider myself a painter but recently… I’ve got no creative energy.

  I approached the canvas while absentmindedly scratching at my palm and waited for inspiration.

  And nothing came. It had been years since I’d done anything artistic.

  Feeling dejected, I threw a bonnet on over my twists, flopped onto my bed and immediately passed out. But, as soon as my head hit the pillow, my little brother was shaking me awake for dinner. After school naps are like time travel.

  I followed my brother, Earnest, down the stairs. If you were to walk through my house, you probably wouldn’t even know I lived there. (Unless you went into my room, obviously.) There’s lots of pictures of my younger sister, Cara, at sporting events, and Earnest at Science competitions. But there aren’t too many pictures of me around, because I’m not really involved in extracurriculars like they are. There used to be a picture of me at my first (and last) art competition in the living room, but I took that down. My mom still doesn’t know what happened to it.

  After I got downstairs, I filled up Mocha’s food bowl and watched him tuck in for a moment. I patted his head gently before joining my family at the dinner table, which was loaded with my mom’s heavenly cooking. Dad said a quick prayer and then we started eating.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “How many words did you say today?” My dad asked in his big booming voice. I sighed as he chuckled to himself. My dad was a huge guy, with skin that was far darker than the rest of ours. He had a ‘mess-with-me-and-find-out’ air to him but usually he’s pretty kind.

  “Three at most,” Cara answered for me.

  “Leave her alone,” Mom rolled her eyes. We had a conversation like that almost every single night. At first, I think it had been a genuine concern but now it was just some lame joke. You’d think Dad and Cara would get tired of the same old joke every night but nope.

  “Actually, I did talk today. I’m doing a group project for history, and I helped choose our topic. We’re going to meet tomorrow morning to make the poster board,” I said. It was sort of true that I had spoken, if you count nodding as speaking.

  “Tomorrow?” Cara groaned. “You’re going to miss my volleyball match.”

  Oh yeah. Cara had volleyball games pretty much every weekend during the fall. I went to ALL of them. Cara’s really athletic and I like supporting her.

  “Hannah,” my mom interrupted. “You can’t just make plans like this.” She then proceeded to ask me typical Mom questions. ‘Who is Tyler? Where does he live? Who’s in your group? Why do you have to go to his house? What’s his mother’s name?’ It went on and on and on.

  Finally, she let it go after I promised to give her Tyler’s mother’s number. I made a point not to mention anything that Jake had said, about how the range was haunted, because I knew it would make my mom even more resistant to me going.

  I think the whole table breathed a sigh of relief when Mom stopped badgering me.

  “Guess what happened today,” Cara said to me. “Calli talked to Austin, and she thinks they’re gonna go on a date.”

  Thanks to Cara, I was very in the know about all the latest eighth grade drama. Recently, I’d been getting all the details on her best friend Calli and Calli’s new “man” Austin.

  “Really?”

  “Really!”

  “Ewww,” Earnest pretended to throw up in his mashed potatoes.

  “Earnest!” Mom glared at him.

  “What?” He gave an innocent shrug that usually worked on Mom. “I don’t wanna hear all that girly stuff!”

  “Will you shut the f-” I snapped my mouth shut not a second too soon.

  My mom pointed her fork at me like it was a weapon. (Which it very well was in her hands.) “Watch your mouth.”

  I’ll admit, my cursing was sort of a problem. But I always reigned it in around my family, because a.) I felt bad about setting a bad example for my siblings and b.) I didn’t want to get beat down by my mom. I shrunk down in my seat a little and let the conversation continue around me as usual.

  Mom turned her fork on Earnest. “And you cannot expect to get whatever you want.”

  “It builds character to not have everything handed to you,” Dad said. “What would you think if you turned out like that boy, Dudley, having everything he ever wanted whenever he wanted it.”

  Dad’s comment sent Earnest into deep thought. Not only did he stop talking but he also pushed away his plate even though it still had food on it. I thought about pointing this out but decided against it. Leave it to Earnest to take away exactly the wrong lesson from every talking-to.

  The rest of my family talked about the usual stuff. Earnest had gotten an A+ on his science test. Cara was hyped for her volleyball game in the morning. Mom was tired of her work. Dad was planning a cookout for his coworkers next Saturday. Blah blah blah.

  No one really said anything about me so I just kinda sat there and rubbed back and forth across the scar on my palm, waiting for dinner to be over.

  After we finished, I hung back at the kitchen table to try and get some chemistry studying out of the way. As I’ve mentioned, the desk in my room isn’t exactly usable. Studying for me basically consisted of staring at formulas until my eyes swam and praying that I suddenly developed a photographic memory.

  Finally, with sig figs and Bohr models bouncing around my skull I walked up the stairs to my room. It was like my bed was exerting a considerable gravitational force on me. But as I rounded the corner at the top of the landing, Earnest tried to scare me.

  He leapt from around the corner, “BOO! You better watch out girl. I could’ve hexed you!”

  I tried to act like he hadn’t just scared the living daylights out of me and told him to get to bed. Earnest was going through a Harry Potter phase, and it was extremely annoying.

  “What if that guy Tyler isn’t really Tyler but he’s a death eater in disguise? What if he hexes you?” He stretched out the “you” to sound like a ghost and wiggled his fingers at me.

  “Go to bed before I toss you over this balcony,” I stretched out the “you” as well. Two can play that game. He rolled his eyes and went to bed. It seemed like he was getting sassier with every passing day, which I guess is what happens when you have two older sisters. I glared at his retreating figure for a moment before heading the opposite direction down the hallway.

  I glanced into Cara’s room as I passed by. She was laying on the floor, setting her volleyball up into the air over and over with her earbuds plugged in. She didn’t notice me. I thought about going in and talking to her like we used to do but decided in the end that I didn’t want to distract her. She’s absolutely obsessed with volleyball.

  I entered my own room and closed the door. As I got ready for bed, Earnest’s comment haunted me. Honestly, I didn’t know who Tyler was. Or any of the other kids for that matter. Obviously, he wasn’t a dark wizard (Right?). But he was a complete stranger, and strangers are dangerous.

  As I climbed into bed, I got that feeling again. I’d never gotten it when I was in my own home before, but there it was. I tried to push it aside and kept my eyes tightly shut, willing for sleep to whisk me away but my heart began to race again.